Creating an Online Strategy with a Limited Budget

We are living in an era of economical downturn. Most businesses worldwide were affected by the credit crunch and in turn had to make obvious cuts in marketing budgets; a worldwide scenario that puts a strain on marketing strategists to come up with campaigns that generate maximum performance with limited budgets.

High risk proposed strategies get thrown in the trash can, and the demand for measurable performance has become a requirement in every marketing strategy.

Fact: “The most measurable medium in marketing is by far the online realm”

Solution: “Leverage the online medium without diluting budget”

Below are five tips that will help you create effective online strategies with a limited budget:

1-    Technology: Look for new “open source” technologies that will give you leverage over their code. Huge Social Networks, such as Facebook or Twitter, give you flexibility with their APIs. So, taking advantage of their products is the way to go!

2-    Production: Don’t waste your time and money in creating redundant modules or applications that mimic functions that are already existent and tested. For example, instead of developing a website or micro site from scratch in order to run an online contest, use pre-developed social solutions such as the Sweepz app. This will save you time and money.

3-    Targeting: It is very easy to dilute your budget using online advertising, mainly because online gives you the possibility to reach a wide audience at an affordable cost, when comparing to offline media. Anyone can run an online ad on some of the leading online networks around but don’t be fooled by the low costs of clicks (CPC), always refer to qualified professionals with online advertising experience in order to optimize your campaigns and make sure your every dollar is spent wisely.

4-    Adjustment: Some of the great advantages of online marketing are its accuracy and flexibility. Constant monitoring and real time adjustments give you the opportunity to amend your campaigns instantly, guaranteeing optimal performance and controlling your budget expenditure.

5-    Analytics: Measuring your campaign performance is an integral part of budget allocation, and is considered another one of online’s assets. In order to know how much to spend and where to spend, an in-depth analysis has to be made on every aspect of the campaign, from the pre-click to the post-click, from online advertising to social networks engagement.